214 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the gas-lamps close to my house, one of which is conveniently situ- 

 ated under the trees at my front door, and early this month I was 

 suprised to notice, inside a lamp, three or four specimens of Euchrtia 

 jacob(B(B, an insect I have never seen in Margate daring the twenty-five 

 summers that I have been resident here ; nor have I heard of one 

 being seen by any other collector — novice or otherwise. I examined 

 ten or twelve gas-lamps, and E. jacoba® had found its way into several 

 of them, and in all I saw about a dozen specimens. I may say that 

 our gas-lamps are fitted with incandescent burners, so that insects 

 cannot well reach the flame, but I should say suffer from the heat ; 

 and the posts are not suitable for "swarming." One specimen only 

 was outside a lamp, and this I captured. Considering that there is 

 not much ragwort on the outskirts of Margate, I am wondering 

 whence these specimens came. The following day we had a drench- 

 ing rain (two inches in a little over the twenty-four hours), and I have 

 not seen another specimen since. I am inclined to think the trains 

 may bring the parents of visitors of this kind, as the specimens were 

 all seen within a hundred yards of the railway, and most of them 

 within fifty yards — at lamps on each side of the railway. The wind 

 and rain have hindered entomological work very much this June, but 

 on Thursday (the 15th inst.) we had an ideal "lamp" night. One 

 lamp — on the railway-bridge — occasionally attracts Neuria saponaria 

 (reticulata) early in June ; on this evening it produced six examples, 

 and the ironwork was well carpeted with Acidalia promutata {inargine- 

 punctata). First broods were also in evidence at other lamps : for 

 example, Aspilates citraria (ochrearia), Agrotis puta, and Acontia lac- 

 tuosa, besides a goodly number of common species ; but I was most 

 interested in the novelties which appeared. The first was a shark, 

 inside the lamp, so I fetched my ladder, and to my satisfaction it 

 proved a good specimen of Cucullia cha mom ilia, and this was followed 

 by Hadena genista, also good, both fresh to my local list. But what 

 surprised me most of all, just as I decided to go to bed, was a Sphinx, 

 in a very wild state — I almost took it for a bat at first. I had the good 

 fortune to get it in my net, and it proved to be a male S. convolvuli. I 

 have taken this insect once before in June, at rest on a post near Worth 

 Mill, Sandwich, but in that year I had no autumnal specimens 

 brought to me. The question arises, Is this specimen a migrant, or 

 has the pupa lain over for the winter in this country ? Vanessa cardui 

 has been commoner in Margate lately than in ordinary seasons ; the 

 specimens are very thinly scaled, which also points to migration. — 

 J. P. Barrett; St. John's Villas, Margate, June 18th, 1905. 



CAPTUKES AND FIELD EEPORTS. 



Phtheochroa (Commophila) rugosana in Surkey. — On June 2nd, 

 1904, when walking over the Kenley downs, a small moth took wing 

 from among the long grass, and settled again a few yards away. It 

 was ultimately secured, and proved to be a fine fresh example of 

 P. rugosana. So far as I could ascertain, there was no bryony, the 

 larval food-plant, in the immediate vicinity. The only previous Surrey 

 record that I am aware of is that in the ' Victoria History of the 



